Case Of 'Little Maria' Is Solved, Bulgarian Romas Are Her Parents

Greece's Hellenic Police say they found the girl living with the Roma couple last week. Authorities have sought tips that might lead to information about her identity.
Hellenic Police/Getty Images
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Hellenic Police/Getty Images

Greece's Hellenic Police say they found the girl living with the Roma couple last week. Authorities have sought tips that might lead to information about her identity.

Hellenic Police/Getty Images

A DNA test has confirmed that the biological parents of Little Maria are a Roma couple living in Bulgaria.

Maria, you might remember, was taken from Christos Salis and his wife, Eleftheria Dimopoulou, because police said the child was too fair to be the Greek Roma couple's daughter. The two were charged with abducting a child, but they maintained that they had adopted Maria from another Roma couple in Bulgaria.

The case raised questions about the stealing and trading of children, and about racial profiling and the way the Gypsy community in Europe has been treated for decades.

"A lawyer representing the Greek couple said they planned to seek legal custody of the fair-haired girl. The couple have told authorities they received Maria after an informal adoption.

"Under Greek law, child abduction charges can include cases where a minor is voluntarily given away by the parents outside the legal adoption process.

"The couple's lawyer, Costas Katsavos, said: 'Now that they're in prison there's not much they can do. But provided what we said is borne out, that it was not an abduction, then logically they will be released from prison and they will be able to enter a proper [adoption] process ... They truly and ardently want her back.'"

As we reported, this case spurred two cases in Ireland, where blond children were taken from their Roma parents, only to be returned after DNA tests proved the Romas were the biological parents.